Huskergirl

Hello!

I'm currently a resident on the Carolinas forum and might be making a move to Dallas in the near future. My husband's company has asked him if he would like to take a position there so I thought I would get some feedback on the lifestyle, economy etc. from fellow S2kers. Of course my main concern is if there are a lot of fun roads and tracks to play on!

Seriously though, I would like to get some feedback on how the job market is (I am in motorsports marketing), cost of living, people and attitude, etc. Just a good snapshot of what life is like in Dallas.

Also, what is the weather like year round? I'm a warm weather person so this is really important to me!

Thanks!
Kallan

AATees

OK, since I have a few minutes I'll take a stab at a response.

I've always thought that Dallas is a very good place to earn a living. The economy is strong and diverse. Our telecom companies took a hit a few years ago and our airline and airplane manufacturing businesses are somewhat shaky, but with only about 2000 other industries anyone should be able to find work.

Dallas was built on a grassland prairie at the juncture of the Elm Fork and East Fork of the Trinity River. It's flat, and a 25-foot oak is considered a BIG tree. Heck, a 10-foot tree is sometimes considered big (just ask a developer).

The cost of living is generally good but highly variable. My advice is to rent for a while and look around. The Dallas/Fort Worth area is the land of suburbs and urban sprawl. I drive a mere 37 miles each way to work, passing through 6-8 different cities. I like the Mid-Cities area just west of the DFW airport in Tarrant county (good value and good schools).

Weather: We like to say that in Texas if you don't like the weather just wait a few minutes, it will change. We have absolutely great springs and falls. Lots of blue skies and warm weather for convertible driving. Summer is 10-12 weeks of dry blast furnace weather (air-conditioning is NOT optional). Winter is only 2-3 weeks long scattered over about 3 months. We had snow and low-teens temps a couple of weeks ago, followed by mid-60's later in the same week.

We have a very active S2K club with many social and driving events (the Auto-X crazies have just increased our championship season to SEVEN events in 2005). There is some scenic cruising near by, but I prefer heading south into the Texas Hill Country, northeast into the Ozarks, or east into the Piney Woods. I have to confess that typical commuter driving is bad in the DFW area.

I'll stop now. Good luck with your move.

Gernby

I have a pretty different opinion on the job market than AATees. My wife has been laid off from 4 jobs in 4 years, and I was laid off in Feb. 04. However, it doesn't sound like you would be in the same market as we are. I'm in Telecom / IT, and my wife has been an admin primarily in the construction business.

There are TONS of homes being built in the far north Dallas area (Allen and McKinney), so it is a buyer's market, especially if you plan to rent.

mxt_77

Since you asked about tracks, we have Motorsport Ranch (a private "sports car club" track... and my personal fave in this area... unless it's raining) and Texas Motor Speedway, both within about 60 miles of downtown Dallas. Also, Texas World Speedway (probably the most fun/longest track in Texas) is in College Station, which is about a 3 hour drive south of Dallas. There is also Hallett in Oklahoma, which is about a 3 hour drive north of Dallas.

For drag racing, you have a 1/4 mile track in Ennis (Texas Motorplex) which is about 30-45 minutes south of Dallas, and I think there are also a handful of 1/8 mile tracks sprinkled around the area.

As for cost of living, Dallas is on the low end of the scale if you compare it to other major US cities. However, you'll pay a premium for certain neighborhoods, while in others you can get some pretty decent bargains.

I don't know how the job market is, because I've been fortunate enough to hold on to my job for the past 5 years, and I haven't been actively seeking employment elsewhere. But as AATees says, if you're flexible, there are lots of different types of jobs out there.

There are plenty of fun roads when you leave the city, and the club occasionally has organized drives along some of those routes, often accompanied by our brothers-in-spirit Miata friends.

If you end up down here, you and the hubby will definitely have to attend some of our events.

Huskergirl

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Glad to know there are a few tracks and fun roads around. I'm not a huge fan of AutoX but I love road courses. I will definitely attend local events if we move there. Its nice to see you have a lot of social gatherings.

The weather sounds about the same as Charlotte. Its been in the 70's all week here!

Lack of trees is no big deal for me, since I am originally from Nebraska.

I've been checking out the real estate listings so far, and its not as high as I expected. Commuting is not a big issue for us, but we like to have a location that we can have access to good restaurants, movie theaters, etc. No kids, so schools and such are not important. We currently live in a golf course community, which my husband enjoys since he plays.

Any recommendations on neighborhoods? Or maybe areas to avoid would be easier?

Photodavo

Although there are some fun roads in the country they're probably more like fun Nebraska roads then fun Carolina rodes.

As far as real estate, you can get a lot of house for the money compared to most large cities. I can't really speak to golf course communities but gernby was right on about the growth to the North of Dallas.

He did leave off one of the faster growing areas which is Frisco. We moved our corporate office there last year for business incentives. They have also actively pursued sports organizations the last few years as well. There is a new minor league baseball stadium that is the home of the Frisco Roughriders (Texas Rangers AA team) and the Dallas Stars hockey team have relocated their corporate offices to a facility in the same complex that also hosts a minor league hockey team. This coming season the Dallas Burn (professional soccer) will also call Frisco home at the new stadium being built in Frisco. In the same area as the baseball/hockey complex there is also a big new mall with tons of other shops and restaurants around it.

If you like warm weather then you'll love it here most of the time. For me the 100+ degree temps that we can often have in the summer get to be a bit much.

One thing is for sure...we have a very active local club here with a great group of people. I have made some wonderful friends because of it.

Best of luck to you and let us know if you end up making the move!

Davo

mxt_77

Regarding real estate, there is a lot of it, and plenty of golf course communities (though they tend to be a bit pricier). One that I looked at before buying my house is Westridge Community in McKinney. You can check out the info at the builder's website:
http://www.legacy-homes.com/

I looked at a 3000+ sq. ft. 4BR/2.5BA w/ 3 car garage (tandem garage) for a hair over 200K in that community (it's the LegendCrest plan). I think all the lots that were bordering the golf course were already sold, but the lot I was looking at was only 3 lots away from the course. I just couldn't get past the fact that the garage was a tandem garage, and the 3rd spot (where the S2000 would spend most of its time) was the tandem spot... and you had to walk by it every time you wanted to go to either of the other spots. That just seemed like it would be asking for people to accidentally scratch the S as the walked past it or whatever.

mxt_77

BTW... in my opinion, McKinney and Frisco are the "place to be" if you're planning to build a new home. McKinney has nice restaurants, and I think a few nice movie theaters. Frisco (and actually McKinney, too) has pretty easy access to the Tollway which will get you to Addison (a great place to hang out) and down to downtown Dallas. Frisco also has a nice, new mall with some "high-class" stores. If you're buying an existing home, I'd prefer to live in West Plano. Again, it has easy access to the Tollway, and there are a gazillion great restaurants over there.
I ended up buying in Wylie because it is closer to work and you can get a bit more for your money. However, if you're looking for "return on investment", I don't think Wylie is your best bet. It's still a growing city, but I don't expect that it will really have a lot to offer in order to boost real estate prices. It's just not a great location for people that want a social life (i.e., it doesn't have easy access to downtown, etc, and it doesn't have much to offer on its own, as far as clubs/bars go).
If you're looking for return on investment, I'd stay to the North & West of Dallas: West Plano, Frisco, McKinney... possibly even Anna & Celina/Gunter, if you're really willing to drive.

tailchaser

I'll chime in to say (as a semi-recent transplant from the Raleigh/Durham area and a lot of experience living and working near Charlotte) that traffic and roads are much nicer here in and around Dallas than in and around Charlotte.

The scenery is rather different, though, as mentioned. I'll second what mxt77 says regarding the Plano/Frisco/McKinney area. We bought a home in west Plano and love the area.

We rented for a few years before we bought - and bought about a mile from where we rented. The area grew on us pretty quickly.

nivek2002

Great post! Ill be moving to the area in June also! Im looking at the HEB area since my school will be right near Six Flags (Lincoln Tech-Automotive School) Hope to hear more stuff

Kevin